Box Score Pasadena, Calif. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's basketball team extended its winning streak to three with a 72-49 victory at California Institute of Technology Tuesday night in the Braun Athletic Center. The Eagles improve to 6-5 on the season while the Beavers drop to 2-7.
In the first-ever meeting between the two teams, UWL never trailed Tuesday as it raced out to an 18-9 lead with 14:29 remaining in the first half after a
Ben Meinholz three-pointer. Caltech cut the deficit to 18-14 after Brent Cahill made two-of-three free throws with 13:32 left. UWL responded with a 7-0 run to lead 25-14. A Ricky Galliani tip-in for the Beavers made it 25-16, but the Eagles went on a 8-0 run to lead 33-16 with 3:06 remaining on a
Brendon Manning layup. UWL led 39-19 at halftime.
The Eagles led 48-25 with 13:31 left in the game before the Beavers went on a 10-0 run to cut it to 48-35. Caltech cut the margin to 50-39 with 9:02 left on two Cahill free throws, but could get no closer the rest of the way as UWL used a 13-3 run to lead 63-42. The Eagles led by as many as 25 points in the second half.
UWL shot 53.6% from the field in Tuesday's win, including 33.3% (four-of-12) from three-point range, and 66.7% (eight-of-12) at the free throw line.
Meinholz led four players in double figures for the Eagles with 15 points while also finishing with a team-high eight rebounds and six steals.
Jared Staege finished with 11 points and four steals while
Devin Yurk and
Austin Fritz each had 10 points. Yurk also had four steals as the Eagles finished with a season-high 18. The 18 steals is tied for fourth in single-game school history. UWL finished with a school record 20 steals versus Luther College (Iowa) November 19, 1988.
A total of 18 players saw action for UWL Tuesday as the Eagles went 2-0 on their trip to California. UWL earned a 84-51 victory at the University of La Verne (Calif.) Monday afternoon.
Caltech shot 28.6% from the field, including 41.7% (five-of-12) from three-point range, and 61.5% (16-of-26) at the line. The Beavers finished with 23 turnovers.
Cahill led Caltech with 11 points while David Kawashima finished with nine. Gallini and Nasser Al-Rayes each had seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
UWL returns to action Wednesday, January 6 hosting UW-Platteville in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) opener at 7 p.m.
